Episode 119: An Ecological Chain

We discuss the language and history of the ecological sciences, all the way back to the ancient Greeks, and the development of the food chain and food web models of ecological systems. And apologies for the unscheduled hiatus!

Golden Chain Cocktail

Food Web video

Cuckold video and podcast

Frank N. Egerton. “A History of the Ecological Sciences: Early Greek Origins”, Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 82.1 (2001): 93-97

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 2: Aristotle and Theophrastos”, BESA 82.2 (2001): 149-152

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 3: Hellenistic Natural History”, BESA 82.3 (2001): 201-205

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 4: Roman Natural History”, BESA 82.4 (2001): 243-246

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 5: Byzantine Natural History”, BESA 83.1 (2002): 89-94

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 6: Arabic Language Science—Origins and Zoological Writings”, BESA 83.2 (2002): 142-146

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 7: Arabic Language Science—Botany, Geography, and Decline”, BESA 83.4 (2002): 261-266

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 8: Frederick II of Hohenstaufen: Amateur Avian Ecologist and Behaviorist”, BESA 84.1 (2003): 40-44

———, “A History of the Ecological Sciences, Part 9: Albertus Magnus: a Scholastic Naturalist”, BESA 84.2 (2003): 87-91

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Episode 117: A Brief History of Misogyny

The word “chauvinism” is an unlikely eponym, but it turns out that the story behind it has all sorts of interesting connections. And our discussion of those connections also leads us into the long history of misogyny in the western world, from Eve and Pandora to the Virgin Mary, courtly love, and Victorian womanhood.

Cocktail: Pandora’s Jar, from Nectar of the Gods

“By Jingo” song

Hesiod’s Works and Days

Hesiod’s Theogony

Semonides 7

BnF MS Fr. 25526

Episode 116: A Quiverful of Time Arrows

We look at the history of English’s conceptualization of time, and update Mark’s research on spatiotemporal metaphor. Also, words for arrows, the surprising origin of ‘toxic’, and a bit of Latin poetry!

Blue Arrow cocktail

Bow and Arrow cocktail

Old English Schemata

Old Norse Schemata

Latin Schemata

Anglo-Norman Schemata

Episode 114a: The XYZ’s of Spelling

It’s Part 2 of our mega-episode on spelling! This time, we get into some of the notorious mismatches between English spelling and modern English pronunciation. Explaining them takes us all the way back to Phoenician — several times — but maybe, just maybe, some bits of this odd language will make more sense to you when we’re done!

The XYZ Cocktail

Our video on “Spelling”

Christopher Upward & George Davidson, The History of English Spelling (2001)

David Sacks, Letter Perfect (2003)

Kevin Stroud, The History of the Alphabet (audiobook)

NativLang “Thoth’s Pill - an Animated History of Writing”

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Episode 114: The ABC’s of Spelling

We’re wading into the messy world of English spelling in this episode — the first of two, since we couldn’t fit all of the ‘quirks’ of the language into one episode. The history of orthography in English is all tangled up with the history of the alphabet, so in this part we trace some of the twists and turns that resulted in our modern script.

The ABC Cocktail

Our video on “Spelling”

Christopher Upward & George Davidson, The History of English Spelling (2001)

David Sacks, Letter Perfect (2003)

Kevin Stroud, The History of the Alphabet (audiobook)

NativLang “Thoth’s Pill - an Animated History of Writing”

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Episode 112: The Bellini, Art, and Patronage

A video thumbnail of a framed renaissance painting with the word “Bellini” superimposed, and a red arrow pointing from a portrait of the artist to a picture of a bellini cocktail in a champagne flute.
Two champagne flutes full of bellini cocktails

As we get ready to mark the new year, it seems a good time to talk about a classic cocktail made with sparkling wine: the Bellini. Our conversation takes us to Italy, in the 20th century, the 15th century, and the 1st century BCE, to Renaissance art and the Roman practice of patronage, and more. Happy New Year!

“Rewriting the history of art patronage”, by Jaynie Anderson. Renaissance Studies. Vol. 10, No. 2, Women Patrons of Renaissance Art, 1300–1600 (JUNE 1996), pp. 129-138.

“Isabella d'Este and Giovanni Bellini's 'Presepio'“, by J. M. Fletcher. The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 113, No. 825, Venetian Painting (Dec., 1971), pp. 703-713.

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Episode 110: Music and Language

We talk about the origins of music, its connection (both etymological and scientific) with the mind, how language is used to describe and teach music, the Muses, and the Museum of Alexandria. Also featuring brief cameos from music YouTuber 12Tone.

Monk’s Muse Cocktail

12Tone’s video “Why Do Notes Have Names?”

Ghost Notes Podcast

“Future” video

Murdoch Mysteries episode “The Dominion of New South Mimico”

Language: The Cultural Tool by Daniel Everett

Erskine, Andrew. “Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria.” Greece & Rome, vol. 42, no. 1, 1995, pp. 38–48. JSTOR.

Hardie, Alex. “Etymologising the Muse.” Materiali e Discussioni per l’analisi Dei Testi Classici, no. 62, 2009, pp. 9–57. JSTOR.

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Episode 109: Endangered Alphabets, with Tim Brookes

We spoke with Tim Brooks of the Endangered Alphabets project about the cultural importance of scripts, the pressures on marginalized and isolated scripts, his beautiful wood carvings, and the various initiatives he and his group have been working on to support script revitalization and creation around the world.

Website: Endangered Alphabets

Inhabit Media

Twitter: @endangeredalpha

Instagram: @endangeredalphas

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Episode 108: Widows, Indian Independence, and Partition

Episode 106: Future in the Past?

We’re talking all about the future in this episode — and if we even have one (in English). This is a topic near and dear to Mark’s heart, and in part the subject of his dissertation! We get into the nitty gritty of grammatical tense, ways of thinking about the future, and a mystery cocktail.

Our video on the Future

Whisky Exchange article about Futurist cocktails

Lavery, Gerard B. “Hoc Aeui Quodcumquest : Lucretius and Time.” Latomus, vol. 46, no. 4, 1987, pp. 720–29. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41534650

Berns, Gisela. “Time and Nature in Lucretius’ ‘De Rerum Natura.’” Hermes, vol. 104, no. 4, 1976, pp. 477–92. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4475983

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Episode 103: Potatoes for Saint Patrick

Medieval manuscript image of Saint Patrick standing on a snake

St Patrick standing on a snake in Purgatory: England, 1451 (London, British Library, MS Royal 17 B XLIII, f 132v)

Two cocktails sitting on a bar. One is amber coloured, in a martini glass. The other is pale green, in a coupe glass rimmed with light coloured metal, with a round slice of cucumber as garnish on the rim of the glass.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! In this episode we talk about the saint’s history, then dig into the potato — its etymology, its history, and how it’s changed the world. With some tangents about batteries, famines, and travel in the Roman world.

Episode 101: Not Your Average Podcast

We start off the new year with a three-part discussion of statistics, insurance, stocks, astrologers, coffee, and more. We also trace some of the vocabulary that has come to English from Arabic, along with important mathematical concepts.

Podcast recommendation: Khameleon Classics

Cocktail: The Revolver

Average Part 1

Average Part 2

Average Part 3

Ep 31 CreateICG

Ep 39 From Fossil Hunters to Mammoth Cheese

Ep 32 Ariadne’s Clue

video “How Do We Perceive a Poem?”

Ripat, Pauline. “Expelling Misconceptions: Astrologers At Rome.” Classical Philology, vol. 106, no. 2, The University of Chicago Press, 2011, pp. 115–54, https://doi.org/10.1086/659835

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Episode 98: The Monster Episode of Monsters

Two cocktails in coupe glasses, clear yellow with red at the bottom of the glass, with dried rose petals floating on the surface.

“The Beautiful Ugly” cocktail, from Nectar of the Gods

It’s Halloween, and the monsters are out! In this episode we tackle Monster Theory (as formulated by J.J. Cohen) , examine the linguistic and cultural origins of a range of Classical and classic movie monsters, look at how they connect to the history of currency and money, and explore the intersections of monsters and the New Woman. We also sample a beautiful cocktail from the upcoming cocktail book Nectar of the Gods by Liv Albert from “Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby”. Thank you, Liv!

The Monster video

Monster Theory by J.J. Cohen

Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture by Liz Gloyn

Our podcast episode interviewing Dr. Gloyn

Horace Odes 1.37

Hesiod passage about Medusa is Theogony 270ff; more info about Medusa here

Ovid passage about Medusa is Metamorphoses 4.753ff

General sources for this episode

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Episode 96: What's the Earliest English Word?

What do you think the earliest English word was? How could we possibly look for such a thing, and what do the possible options tell us about early English history and the movement of peoples in the early medieval period? We tackle these questions, in an episode about Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians, Celts, Tacitus, Bede, and more.

Reminder: Mark will be running another session of his Speakeasy seminar course, The Origins of English: Learning to Think Like an Etymologist, which is open to anyone who’s interested. Registration is now open at Speakeasy.com for the session running on Sunday afternoons (Eastern time) from September 12th October 3rd.

Recipe for Old English cocktail

Earliest English Word video

Jabzy’s Anglo-Saxon Invasion video

The Early Greek Alphabets: Origin, Diffusion, chpt 4 by Rosalind Thomas

C. Krebs, A MOST DANGEROUS BOOK: TACITUS’ GERMANIA FROM THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE THIRD REICH. London: W.W.Norton & Co., 2011.

Other sources

Why do Poles call Italy WŁOCHY? (video)

Bonus episode about the term “Anglo-Saxon” from December 2019

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Episode 93: The Americano, the Negroni, America, and Rome

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A day after Independence Day in the US, we investigate the history of the name “America” and two related cocktails, with some side trips into the sack of Rome in 410 CE and the use of the Fall of Rome as a historical parallel for the United States. This episode completes our mini series on country names, in the season of national holidays in north America.

Cocktails: Americano & Negroni

Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu Suo

"The Fall of Ancient Rome and Modern U.S. Immigration: Historical Model or Political Football?" Frank Argote-Freyre and Christopher M. Bellitto. The Historian Vol. 74, No. 4 (WINTER 2012), pp. 789-811

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Episode 92: Canuck, and Re-Thinking Canada's Story

This episode is being released for Canada Day, but it’s not a celebration. This year, even more than most, we feel that this day needs to be one of reckoning with our past and trying to make a better present and future. So we talk about the history of the word Canuck and the various stories that Canadians tell themselves about their county, and we also discuss the role of Classics in the early history of the colonial project in Canada, as well as how to think about Classics today in relation to Indigenous issues. And then we finish with some quick etymologies of uniquely Canadian words and phrases. Content note: there is brief mention of residential schools and discussion of historical racism.

Le Canuck Cocktail

Jacques Cartier Heritage Minute

Minute Women podcast

Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles

Brill’s Companion to Classics in the Early Americas

Zachary Yuzwa on Twitter

Robinson-Huron Treaty lawsuit

Muskoka chair

Beavertails

Nanaimo bars

Fiddleheads

Spile

Porketta Bingo

“Only in Canada, You Say?” by Katherine Barber

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Episode 90: Unrolling Books and Evolving Words

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We talk about the history of the book, the reading habits of the ancient Romans, the pliability of sheep skins, and the mechanisms of semantic change that cause words to evolve over time. Oh, and we discuss Charles Darwin’s own language for his new theory.

The "Codex Cocktail" was created for us by Ed Bedford — recipe here

Liber Adest newsletter

Our new page of cocktails from the podcast

McCutcheon, R. W. “Silent Reading in Antiquity and the Future History of the Book.” Book History, vol. 18, 2015, pp. 1–32., www.jstor.org/stable/43956366

“In Ancient Rome” by Joseph Howley, in Further Reading, edited by Matthew Rubery and Leah Price. 2020.

Erasmus Darwin video

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Episode 86: Who's on Your Calendar?

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Happy holidays! In this seasonal episode we discuss the origins of the modern Western calendar, the names of the months and days of the week, and the sources we have for Roman calendars and Germanic gods. Happy new year, and may it be better than the last!

Our poster store

Crosscut Distillery

Sabbath

Millennial

Ovid's Fasti

Herbert-Brown, Geraldine. “Fasti: the Poet, the Prince, and the Plebs” in A Companion to Ovid, ed. Peter E. Knox, Wiley-Blackwell. 2013.

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Episode 85: Election Talk to Take Your Mind off the Election

It’s election night 2020 in the US, and our video from 4 years ago about the language of politics is relevant once again. We discuss the changing vocabulary of democracy and what it can tell us about shifting attitudes towards popular rule and politicians. It may not be a complete break from political coverage, but at least it’s mostly about the distant past, not the uncertain future!

Ballot Box Cocktail

Mashed Radish blog post on Candidate

Mashed Radish blog post on Poll

Anatoly Liberman on Booth

“Sublime” video

“Sublime” podcast

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Episode 84: Linoleum: It's Not As Boring As You Think!

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In this episode we go from the origin of the world to the many uses of olive oil, with discussions of Roman mosaics, and trademark law along the way. This is the third of our episodes on Intellectual Property, following Episode 42: Bugging Out! on patents and Episode 57: Freebooting, Piracy, & Copyright on copyright. Also, it’s the start of Season 6, and we want to thank everyone who’s joined us over the last 5 years. It’s been a blast, and here’s to another half decade!

“The asàrotos òikos mosaic as an elite status symbol” by Ehud Fathy

Ancient History Encyclopedia — the olive

Oxford Dictionaries blog post on “gasoline”

Hesiod, Theogony

First oil derrick — picture

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